Pech de l'Azé IV - 2003 Excavations

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In this year all of the squares D11 – F14 were excavated to bedrock. A small bench of the lowermost layer (Layer 8) was left in the northern half of squares G11-G13, and a higher bench left in the southern portion of squares G11-G13 and H11-H14. These benches were left primarily to preserve the deposits of Layer 8, which contained numerous combustion features. Although we had attempted to excavate this layer in such a way as to expose individual features – through the use of both décapage (gradually exposing the surface) and advancing from the side section, taking small (25 cm wide) slices -- neither technique was entirely successful. Thus, the decision was made to preserve them for future excavations. Beyond this small bench (roughly 2.6m by 70cm), probably 20-30 m2 of this layer remains.